Moments In Time
by delenasdreams
Summary: Collection of one shots set in the future post 8x16 about Damon and Elena's long and happy life.
1. The One With The Dance

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 **The One With The Dance**

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Elena tried very hard to remain calm, but after one glance at Damon, she couldn't help but be worried about him. Last time their daughter announced she had something important to tell them was just last week, when she very calmly informed them she had a boyfriend and was going on a date. That had not gone over well with Damon at all. While Elena secretly knew Miranda had a few boyfriends, but kept it from Damon for everyone's sake, this was the first time she told them about someone. Before that, Damon blissfully lived in his little bubble of denial where his daughter was, and probably always would be, his little girl and too young too date.

Now, one week later, as the same scenario played out in front of Elena, she couldn't imagine what other news Miranda might drop on them and how Damon would react. He already looked pale as he waited for her to speak, and Elena gave her a subtle look that hopefully said she better hurry up before her father jumped to the worst possible conclusion.

Miranda's brown eyes went wide, probably realizing the same thing, so before he could start interrogating her, again, about the boy she was dating she blurted out, "I decided to participate in the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant this year."

Damon visibly relaxed and Miranda and Elena shared a look, trying not to laugh.

"That's great! I know I mentioned it once at the end of last year but I wanted it to be your decision." Elena encouraged her with a smile.

"I know you participated in it mom, and that's something I want to do too. Olivia wants to do it also, so we decided to do it together." Miranda told them excitedly.

"Out of the thousands of pointless events this town has, that actually might be the only one that has my full support." Damon said, smiling for the first time since the beginning of their conversation. He looked at Elena, remembering their dance when she had participated during her junior year. Elena felt his eyes on her and returned the look with a blush and a smile.

Their moment didn't go unnoticed by their daughter. "What was that look?"

"What look?" Damon asked.

Miranda rolled her eyes, "The look you two give each other when you share a memory or one of your countless inside jokes. I've seen it enough times to know _the_ look."

Damon smiled at that before he replied, "Well, when your mom was a contestant for Miss Mystic Falls in high school, we shared a moment."

"What kind of moment? Tell me." Miranda demanded because she always enjoyed her parents telling her stories, but before either of them could answer her eyes went wide and she quickly added, "Wait wait ew! Don't tell me if it's smutty!"

Damon laughed as Elena quickly explained, "No, no, it wasn't like that! We were just friends back then."

"But it was a completely different story a year after that..." Damon cut in with a smirk.

Elena gave him a serious look which immediately stopped him from saying whatever he was planning on saying, before continuing, "Part of Pageant tradition is the dance they do every year, the dance each contestant has to do with their partner. My partner couldn't make it on time so right before the dance I was standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at the empty space, scared and confused and thinking how any minute everyone will realize my date is missing and I'm gonna have to go back or worse, walk down the stairs alone." Elena paused and turned to Damon with a soft smile, "But then, Damon stepped in and saved me from embarrassing myself in front of the entire town."

"Awwww." Miranda always loved these little moments and stories her parents shared with her.

"As he led me to the place where we were supposed to dance I kept thinking 'how are we going to do this without any practice.'" Elena laughed, "But like always, your dad surprised me. We didn't need any practice. Dancing with him felt effortless, I didn't have to think about it at all. Everything faded away and it was just the two us and in that moment I let myself admit for the first time how...good looking he was and let myself just forget all our problems and just be in that moment and feel."

"That sounds so romantic! But didn't you guys once tell me when you were friends you were angsty and were fighting more than getting along?" Miranda asked with one eyebrow raised knowingly.

"We had our moments in between all that angst, like that dance." Damon answered, sharing another look with Elena.

The moment was broken at the sound of a ringtone. Elena glanced down at her phone, "It's Caroline. She'll be so excited you're doing the pageant."

Elena stood up and left the room. Damon's eyes followed her until she was out of view before turning back to Miranda. "Your mom took my breath away with each step she made down those stairs. And even though it started off as something we had to go through unexpectedly, as we danced I felt something shift inside me, and between us. I didn't know it at the time, or maybe I knew it but I couldn't admit it to myself yet, but I was falling for her. Maybe I was already in love, but in that moment I felt how inevitable it really was."

Miranda knew her dad loved her mom, he showed it every day in his every word and every move, but listening to him talk about the moment he fell in love was something else entirely. "That sounds like the beginning of a love story." Miranda mused out loud. "So nothing but happy memories then?" She asked then.

 _You think this is where your love story began._

Damon remembered Stefan's words and gazed thoughtfully at his daughter, who unknowingly reminded him of another, not so happy memory he had of Miss Mystic Falls.

"Unfortunately, it's not all just happy memories. Years later, we attended another Miss Mystic Falls Pageant." Miranda felt the happy mood from before completely disappear. Sometimes it was hard for her dad to talk about that period of their once upon a time crazy lives; filled with vampires, werewolves, witches and many other things her parents left out for her benefit, so she waited in silence until he continued.

"Elena was gone." He took a deep breath and Miranda knew he was talking about the time her mom was in a magical coma and her dad believed he wouldn't see her for 60 years. "I only had the memory of her to hold onto. But thanks to the Mystic Falls villain of the month even that was slowly slipping away from me. My feelings attached to those memories were fading away. But your aunt Caroline stepped in and she helped me by dancing with me and forcing me to confront those feelings buried inside. I kept having these flashbacks of your mother as we were dancing and I _felt_ her, for just a moment, like she was there with me. And that's when I knew that somehow I had to keep her and our memories safe in my mind."

As her dad spoke Miranda felt one tear slip away and roll down her cheek and she quickly brushed it away. Her mom and dad told her many stories; exciting ones, funny ones, scary ones but each time they told her a story like this, filled with so much tragedy and sadness, she couldn't help but feel overwhelming happiness for her parents. They'd been through so much and had always found their way back to each other. Every day and with each story they inspired her to believe true love exists and to believe one day she'll find it too, and fight for it just like they did.

She stood up, went to her dad and sat down next to him. His eyes still looked haunted but he looked at her curiously and waited for her to say something. Much like her mom always had, she knew what her dad needed in that moment, so she moved closer and hugged him tightly. She kissed his cheek softly before pulling away, "Thank you for sharing that with me dad."

Elena watched them silently from across the room with tears in her eyes and a happy smile on her face. One night, while they were lying in bed Elena shared with Damon the moment she knew she loved him, and he surprised her by sharing the moment when he knew as well. But Damon had never told her about everything that happened that day while he was fighting Sybil's mind control, and as Elena listened to him, and though she thought it couldn't be humanly possible, she still felt like she loved him even more.

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Later that night, when their kids were asleep and everything was silent, Damon and Elena were in their bedroom, their bodies closely pressed together and swaying slightly. There was no music, and other than the sound of their heartbeats, it was complete silence. Elena's head on his shoulder, Damon's arms wrapped around her. Every few minutes Damon would place a soft kiss on her cheek, her hair or her forehead and Elena would hug him tightly in return, both of them lost in memories from a long time ago, the memories they had fought for so hard all around them, and at the same time making new ones.

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 **For now, this is a O/S but if enough people like this then this _might_ turn into collection of one shots about a few significant, exciting, funny, sad or sexy moments in Damon and Elena's long and happy life together post 8x16.**

 **Big thanks to Channing (delenasdragon) and Laura (delenashands) for helping me!**

 **Please review and let me know what you think here and on twitter (delenafatalist).**


	2. The One With A Phone Call

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 **The One With A Phone Call**

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After tossing and turning in her bed for almost an hour, Elena gave up up on trying to fall asleep. Feeling restless with her thoughts in a jumbled mess, she had nothing else to do but pace around the room.

Sometimes it still felt weird to be in her bedroom, and in the house she'd decided to burn down after one of the worst days of her life. After Damon had renovated it for her it became their home and it felt familiar yet overwhelming with old, good and bad memories they shared.

Years ago, when they were standing on her old porch, Damon told her they're are going to make new memories. Back then it was because she'd erased every good memory of them, but that was exactly what they had been doing since the moment they'd reunited.

Once upon a time she could barely look around without being reminded of nothing but death but now she only saw life.

She stopped in front of a row of framed photographs.

One was of her and Damon during the first summer they'd spent together after she'd woken up from her coma. Just the two of them and an open road after they'd stopped the car in the middle of nowhere. She was holding up her phone, ready to snap a picture, smiling and still teasing Damon for letting her drive his precious Camaro because he wasn't able to say no to her. Instead of continuing their banter he'd simply pressed a soft kiss on her cheek.

One of her favorites was when Damon surprised her by playing the piano for her one night. She still had no idea who took the picture but both of them had silly smiles on their faces.

Next to it were the pictures of them with Jenna in her arms, a day or two after she was born. Elena was smiling at the camera, while Damon was looking at the two of them with awe and adoration. Elena had no idea when he had done it but when she was framing it she noticed Damon wrote something at the back of it. It said: _Two loves of my life._

The most recent one was taken on Jenna's third birthday, her and Damon on each side of her giving her a kiss on the cheek and Jenna's huge happy grin.

She didn't notice tears falling down her face until one of them dropped on the picture she was holding. Elena rolled her eyes at herself and quickly brushed it away. This was a third time she was crying today, and unlike the first two times when Caroline was there to distract her and occupy her mind with constant chatter about the wedding, this time Elena was alone.

She picked up the phone from her nightstand and with a deep breath pressed Call. While she waited for Damon to pick up she looked out of the window, into the darkness of the night and up at the stars. In just a few hours she'd be marrying Damon and at this time tomorrow she'll already be Elena Salvatore. Every time she thought about it she couldn't stop the flow of emotions. She knew being pregnant was also one of the reasons she was an emotional mess these past few days. For now, only Damon knew she was pregnant again and they had planned to keep it that way until after the wedding.

 _I've been a vampire for a long time, Elena. It's been a blast, but I'd give it up in a second to be your husband, your partner, father of your kids._

He was already her partner and father of her kids, and in Elena's mind he was also her husband in every way that mattered, but after five years of living together and starting their family, making that final step felt right and Elena couldn't be happier.

And even though she'd seen Damon today, she was used to his familiar warmth as they fell asleep together every night. Nothing could replace that but she wanted to at least hear his voice one more time before seeing him tomorrow as she walked toward him in her wedding dress.

"Hey you." Damon answered, pulling Elena out of her thoughts and making her smile.

"Hey." She replied.

"Miss me already?"

Elena moved from the window and sat down at the edge of their bed. "This bed is too big without you so I just wanted to say goodnight before the big day tomorrow."

"When are you gonna admit you regret rejecting my suggestion from this morning?" Damon coaxed gently.

Elena rolled her eyes. "I didn't exactly reject your suggestion; more like I was forced to. You know how Caroline is with her traditions and rules, she wants everything to be perfect before, during and after the wedding."

"Yeah but you know how much fun we always have while breaking these silly rules." Damon purred in a low voice, making her tingle.

"You really think you're able to sneak into the house with a vampire in it?" Elena asked in disbelief. "A vampire who is determined to keep you out of it no less?"

Damon scoffed. "Even though I'm not a vampire anymore don't underestimate my abilities, especially when I'm feeling highly motivated."

"Okay, let's say, you manage to successfully sneak in here and then what? Can you say with absolute certainty that you could keep quiet for what would come next?" Elena asked, pressing her lips together to stop herself from laughing.

"Me?" Damon predictably gasped in fake outrage, "Do I really have to remind you of the last time we've been caught and whose fault it was?"

"Hmmm." Elena pretended to think. "You're obviously getting senile in your old age but let me remind you Caroline heard you, not me."

"I wasn't the one who knocked over a lamp and Caroline, not being able to mind her own business, came rushing in to see what's wrong!"

Elena ignored him and using a voice that sounded nothing like him mocked, "Elena, oh look we're in our old bedroom so how about we refresh our memories of all the good times we had in here." She paused and dramatically lowered her voice. "No one will ever know."

"And who had dragged me in that room in the first place?" Damon protested smugly.

Elena couldn't deny that, so knowing she was loosing this argument she said. "Okay, even if that might be true it still doesn't change the fact that if you tried to sneak in tonight Caroline would've heard us and kicked you out."

Damon released a defeated sigh. "I don't even see a point in this ridiculous rule anyway, we're going be married anyway in a few hours."

"I agree but you know how she is." Elena trailed off.

"So what about phone sex?" Damon suggested instead.

"Damon!"

"Okay, okay I give up."

They were silent for a moment before Damon spoke again. "So are you calling because you're nervous or?"

"No, I just missed you and wanted to hear your voice." Elena answered immediately. "You?"

"I've never been more sure and ready for anything in my entire life. Besides, this is just making it official. I'm pretty sure that by now we've been more married these past few years than some married couples."

"Yeah." She agreed, thinking of their life and smiling dreamily.

"I miss you and Jenna already." Damon confessed quietly.

"We miss you too." Elena said, suppressing the familiar urge to cry. She didn't want Damon to know she'd cried already or he might decide to just come over no matter what Caroline had to say about it. She tried to distract herself. "How do you think Jenna will react when we tell her she'll soon have a little brother or a sister?"

Damon groaned. "I'm sure she'll be thrilled. And hopefully it will stop her from asking me every single day if we can get a cat."

Elena laughed but it was cut off when she heard a noise in the hall. She moved further away from the door and whispered. "I think Caroline is out in the hall. I have to go."

"Wait!" Damon stopped her from hanging up. "I can't wait to call you my wife. I love you. Goodnight Elena."

Wife. Elena Salvatore. Elena shivered in delight. She wanted to say more but soon she'll be sharing her vows anyway so with a soft smile she simply replied. "I love you, too. I'll see you soon. Goodnight."

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 **Please review and let me know what you think, here or on twitter (delenafatalist).**

 **Thank you Diana (malikdelena) for helping me!**

 **This was inspired by chapter 2 aka The Wedding Day of "Today I Feel Alive" by AllthingsDelena so read that next!**


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